On September 4, 2024 climate service providers in the Southwest hosted the first in a series of virtual climate conversations. The USDA Southwest Climate Hub, the Climate Assessment for the Southwest, and the South Central and Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Centers joined forces to create a space to learn from leaders advancing wildfire resilience via a novel reforestation center, cultural burning, and forest sustainability and reforestation.
Representatives from the ten Climate Hubs presented at the virtual 2021 Annual Conference of the Soil and Water Conservation Society “One World, Connected through Conservation.” We have the permission of the SWCS and all participants to share the video of the Climate Hubs session, which focused on regional solutions for climate adaptation and mitigation. These short presentations highlight responses to climate impacts and extremes in critical topics such as water resources in the Southeast, soil health in the Southern Plains, climate-informed county planning in the Northeast, preparing for wildfire in the West, managing forests for multiple benefits in Puerto Rico, and more. Please follow this link to play the video.
“Video credit: Soil and Water Conservation Society”
Setting grazing plans and stocking rates can be especially challenging during a drought, such as the one currently afflicting much of the western United States. The Grassland Productivity Forecast tool, or Grass-Cast, can help provide insight into how the grass production through the summer will play out. The Grass-Cast tool covers the Great Plains region and has recently expanded to include Arizona and New Mexico, two states dealing with moderate to extreme drought. In this webinar, Brian Fuchs, Monitoring Coordinator with the National Drought Mitigation Center, and Dannele Peck, Director of the USDA Northern Plains Climate Hub, discussed the current drought conditions and what the Grass-Cast forecast tells us about the rest of summer.
This webinar was organized by the Drought Learning Network (DLN) Beginning Farmers and Ranchers team. The DLN links climate service providers with resource managers to increase landscape and community resilience in current and future drought. At this meeting, climate service providers shared information with and answered questions from beginning farmers and ranchers.
7/22/2020
Drought 2020 in Eastern New Mexico and the Southern High Plains – a conversation features experienced cattle growers discussing how they plan for and manage drought. New Mexico ranchers Mimi and Tom Sidwell and James Stewart explain how they plan for and manage their rangelands and herd during drought, how 2020 measures up to previous droughts, and their experience with marketing during COVID. NM State Climatologist, Dr. Dave DuBois, provides a drought update. This webinar is a collaborative effort of many partners through the Drought Learning Network, which aspires to link climate service providers with land managers to foster drought resilience.
According to the June 30, 2020 U.S. Drought Monitor, 68% of Colorado was in drought, including most of Southern Colorado in Extreme Drought (D3) and even Exceptional Drought (D4) in the southeast corner. Conditions include parched ground, stressed vegetation and increased fire risk.
Participants will learn about a new one-stop resource for air quality, dust mitigation, wind erosion and available resources to support on-the-ground conservation.
An introduction to the newly published Dust Mitigation Handbook – a collaborative project between the USDA Southern Plains and Southwest Climate Hubs, USDA Agricultural Research Service, and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. The Handbook represents a “OneUSDA” vision for conservation management under varying and changing environmental conditions, and is intended for resource managers in USDA and other land management agencies who are struggling with dust challenges and working with producers to craft solutions.